Feeling Invisible
by And Then I Woke Up
Summary: Gwen realizes that she's been ignoring her Bellwood friends during her adventures, and decides to have a girl's day. She starts to notice that in her absence, one of her best friends has started changing....


Title: Feeling Invisible

Author: And Then I Woke Up

Fandom: Ben 10 Alien Force

Characters: Gwen, OCs

Summary: Gwen realizes that she's been ignoring her Bellwood friends during her adventures, and decides to have a girl's day. She starts to notice that in her absence, one of her best friends has started changing...

A/N: This story would probably take place sometime between Be-Knighted and Plumber's Helpers. I tried to avoid anything that could lead to a major plothole, but I'm sorry if I missed anything. I tried to write this story like its an actual episode. I also hinted at pairings (like they would really do in the series) rather than making an official one.

Disclaimer: Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force are owned by Man of Power.

I also don't own:

Abercrombie

Hot Topic

Borders Books

Claire's

I DO own Gwen's two friends; and, just so I don't have to try and fit it into the story when they show up, here are their descriptions:

Name: Pepper Spice

Age: 15

Gender: female

Height: 5' 4"

Hair: brown; shoulder-length and pulled up in a ponytail

Eyes: blue

Outfit: yellow hoodie (a size or two too big); jean pants; red baseball cap; black tennis shoes; black gloves

Name: Sarah Bellum

Age: 16

Gender: female

Height: 5' 4"

Hair: blonde; short and flippy at ends

Eyes: blue

Outfit: light blue t-shirt; grey denim miniskirt; yellow flip-flops; brown bangle bracelets on right wrist; wire-frame glasses

--

It was still early morning when Pepper Spice dragged herself out of bed. She hadn't been able to sleep very well the night before anyways, and decided that she might as well stop trying. With a yawn, she grabbed some clothes and wandered down the hallway to the upstairs bathroom of her house. Downstairs, she could hear the sound of her grandmother moving about and figured that she had just enough time to take a shower before breakfast would be ready.

Pepper sleepily got undressed and threw her clothes in the hamper, and was reaching out to turn on the shower, when she realized something.

She couldn't see her arm. Pepper lifted the appendage, for it was still there, just invisible, and ran over to look at herself in the fullview mirror on the back of the bathroom door.

Her entire torso and left arm was gone. Pepper concentrated on trying to make them visible again, but only succeeded in bringing her arm back into focus. A moment later, part of her right leg vanished and Pepper realized with a dawning sense of horror it wasn't coming back either.

"Pepper! Phone!" Her grandmother called up the stairs. Pepper began to frantically pull her clothes on and ran downstairs to grab the phone.

"Thanks grams!" She called, holding the reciever up to her ear.

"Hey, Pep!" A cheerful voice greeted from the other side of the line. Pepper recognized the voice of her best friend, Gwendylon Tennyson. "How have you been?"

A surge of anger shot through Pepper as she started to let the redhead know just how she'd been in the months that the other girl had been practically ignoring her since school ended, but Gwen cut her off.

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to meet me and Sarah at Burger World for lunch," she said. Pepper almost dropped the phone when she looked down and saw that most of her arm was gone. "I haven't seen you guys in awhile and-"

"Yeah, great," Pepper interupted, frantically praying that her grandmother didn't turn around. "I'll be there. Look, Gwen, I gotta go. Breakfast is done." She hung up before the redhead could say anything else and shot upstairs to grab a sweater before her grandmother had a chance to notice her rapidly vanishing granddaughter.

--

(This is where the theme song would go if this were a real episode. Lol)

--

You could cut the tension between the three girls with a knife. Gwen fidgeted with a napkin and lifted her head to face the girl sitting across from her. She'd known Sarah Bellum since she started high school and the cheerleader had decided to latch onto her for some unknown reason. Normally, the blonde was a total chatterbox, but at that moment she seemed preoccupied with cutting her cheeseburger into bite sized chunks.

(Sarah hates eating with her hands,) Gwen remembered suddenly as the blonde forked one of the bites and popped it into her mouth. The redhead turned her attention away from her and focused on the girl beside her.

Pepper Spice had been her best friend since as far back as she could remember, but right now the brunette was pointedly ignoring her, it seemed. She hadn't touched her food, and was too busy staring out the window to notice Gwen staring at her. Gwen wondered why the girl had hung up on her that morning. She also wondered why Pepper was wearing a sweater in the middle of summer, but decided to keep her mouth shut.

"So, where've you been all summer, Gwen?" Sarah asked suddenly, causing Gwen to jump.

"Oh you know, here, there, everywhere!" She replied with a nervous laugh, trying to sound flippant and not quite pulling it off. "Just felt like doing something different this year."

"I think she's got a boyfriend," Sarah loudly informed the table -and probably half of the restaurant. She turned to Pepper, who didn't bother looking away from the window. "Do you think she's got a boyfriend?" She turned back to Gwen, and jabbed a fork at her. "I think you've got a boyfriend. You're holding out on us missy!"

"I don't have a-"

"Is he cute at least? I bet he's cute. Have you two like-" she leaned in conspiratorily, "-done it yet?"

"What?" Gwen yelped. "No! And he's NOT my boyfriend!"

Sarah sat back with a triumphant grin. "So there IS a boy." Gwen hid her face in her arms and groaned. "Bout time, Red. I was afraid you were gonna end up being a cat-lady or something."

"Not everyone's like you," Pepper muttered.

"Don't even get me started on you, Spice," Sarah snorted. "At least Gwen expresses SOME interest."

"I don't like guys."

"Maybe that's why you don't have any boobs. Puberty hasn't kicked in yet."

"Shut-up, Bellum," Pepper snapped. "Not everyone's got freakin basketballs like you."

Gwen smiled slightly as she watched her two friends bicker and figured that she must've been imagining things.

"You know what!" Sarah exclaimed.

"No, but I'm sure you're gonna tell us." Gwen could see Pepper rolling her eyes in the refelction of the glass.

Sarah ignored her. "We should have a girl's day! We've barily hung out this summer, so we've got a lot of catching up to do!"

"Sounds like fun," Gwen agreed, nodding cheerfully. She turned to adress the girl beside her. "What do you think, Pep?"

"Whatever," the brunette muttered, finally turning to face them with dull blue eyes.

--

An hour later, the girls entered the mall. Sarah made an immediate beeline for the nearest clothing store, while the other two tagged along behind.

"It's not a race, y'know," Gwen informed the blonde as they entered Abercrombie. Sarah threw her a look of disdain.

"Please," she snorted. "When it comes to shopping, everything's a race."

Gwen sighed and followed her over to the women's section. She stopped when she realized that Pepper wasn't with them, and turned to see the brunette staring thoughtfully at a yellow sundress.

"You wanna try it on?" Gwen asked, walking over to the girl. "I'm sure we can find an empty changing stall."

Pepper pulled the dress off the rack and walked silently toward the girl's fitting rooms. Gwen watched her walk away with a frown, before shruging and deciding to go see what Sarah was up to.

--

Pepper checked to see if the stall was empty before letting herself in. She hung the dress up on one of the hooks and quickly pulled off her sweater, turning to survey the damage in the mirror. Most of her left arm was gone now, and from the looks of it, her right was starting to go too.

"At least," she murmured, placing a hand on the mirror. "It's not TOO noticeable...I can still cover it up..." She pulled off her t-shirt and grimaced when she saw the wall behind her through her stomach. "It's getting worse though."

Pepper decided that she wasn't in the mood to try on clothes anymore. She pulled her shirt and sweater back on, then reached to pull the dress down from the wall, then let out a small gasp when she realized that her hand was now invisible too.

"Oh no..." she whispered. "Oh no!"

"Pep?" Gwen called, knocking on the space beside the entrance "Are you okay in there?"

"Y-yeah! I'm fine!" Pepper yelled back, hurriedly stuffing both hands into the front pocket of her hoodie. She pushed through the curtain and past a worried Gwen.

"Aren't you getting the dress?" Sarah asked. Pepper shrugged and kept walking straight past them over to a rack of t-shirts.

"No," she replied. "Didn't fit."

"Do you need another size?" Gwen asked as her and Sarah joined the brunette.

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay..." Gwen browsed through the shirts, pulling out a green one. . "Whad'ya think, Pep?" She asked, turning to hold it out to the other girl, who flinched back slightly.

"Ah, no," Pepper replied, shaking her head furiously. She stuffed her hands tighter into her pockets. "It's not really my style."

"Well, it's definately mine!" Sarah exclaimed, grabbing the shirt excitedly and heading off to the changing rooms. Pepper wandered over to the purse section and was still surveying them when Sarah walked back out, carrying the shirt and discarded dress.

"You really should get this. I'm sure it would even look cute on you're skinny ass."

"Hey, look! They have Hello Kitty messenger bags!" Pepper exclaimed, as if the other girl hadn't spoken. She started to reach out to pull one off the shelf, paused, switched hands, and held the bag up for them to see. "Isn't it adorable?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Pep. Hello Kitty is for babies." Pepper bit her lip and started to put the bag back up, but Gwen stopped her.

"It IS adorable, Pepper," she told the girl. "You should totally get it!"

Pepper nodded slightly, but didn't reply. Gwen watched her walk away with a slight frown, before turning to Sarah.

"Is Pepper mad at me?" She asked. The blonde raised an eyebrow.

"Do I LOOK like a mind reader? If you wanna know, ask her," Sarah replied. Gwen nodded and walked over to where Pepper was pretending to look at shoes.

"Hey? Pep?" Gwen moved to place a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Are you-" her hand hit empty air as the other girl stepped away, "...okay?"

"I'm fine," Pepper snapped, turning to glare at the redhead. "Geez, Gwen. You've spent the whole summer practically ignoring me, and now suddenly you're my best friend again?"

"I never stopped being your friend!" Gwen exclaimed, a hurt look crossing her face.

"Yeah, right. Coulda fooled me," Pepper snorted, turning away from her. "FYI, Gwen? "Best Friend" is a full-time commitment. Not just when it's convenient for you."

Gwen bit her lip and looked down as the other girl stalked off.

"I'm ready for another store," Sarah announced, wandering over with her newly purchased items. "How about you?"

--

"Has Pepper been acting strange lately?"

Sarah wrinkled her nose as she picked up a green-plaid skirt. "Uh? Yeah? Duh. She's ALWAYS acted strange."

"No," Gwen corrected. "I mean, wierder than normal."

"She's probably just pissed that you've been out having fun without her," Sarah stated, putting the skirt back and picking up another. "I swear, she's like a jealous boyfriend or something. It's always Gwen this and Gwen that." She cocked her head slightly and contemplated the red skirt she now held. "I swear, it's like she has a crush on you."

"I have been pretty busy lately," Gwen mused, watching her friend discard the red skirt in favor of a blue one. "Maybe she just thought I was ignoring her on purpose."

"You weren't?" Sarah grinned when Gwen glared at her. "Kidding. But seriously, you guys need to kiss and make-up, cause I'm tired of watching you two dance around each other."

"Funny," Gwen stated with a slight smirk. "That's what I always tell Kevin and Ben..."

"Ooh! Kevin's your new boytoy, isn't he!"

"He's NOT my boyfriend!"

--

"Are you cold or something?" Sarah asked as she and Gwen caught up to Pepper outside of Hot Topic. She looked pointedly at the black gloves the brunette was now wearing. "First that stupid sweater, now gloves. Wanna buy a scarf while we're at it?"

"The air conditioner must be up to high, cause I'm freezing," Pepper replied. Gwen raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment. She'd never known the other girl to get cold so easily.

"Whatever," Sarah sighed. "Where do you guys wanna go next?"

"Borders," Gwen stated at the same time Pepper said, "Claire's."

Sarah heaved a long-suffering sigh, rolling her eyes up to the heavens. "Seriously, Gwen, WHO goes to a bookstore during a shopping spree?"

"Gwen does," Pepper replied with a small smile. "Let's go there first, then we can go to Claire's."

"Fine. But only for a few minutes."

"Okay, okay," Gwen conceeded, laughing as the blonde started complaining about the horrors of reading. She turned her gaze toward Pepper, who was staring down at her gloved hands with a worried expression. The brunette looked up, catching her gaze.

"What?" She sounded slightly worried. Gwen opened her mouth to say "nothing" and realized with a sharp intake of breath that she could see through her friend. She blinked and Pepper snapped back into focus, making Gwen wonder if all the alien hunting was finally starting to get to her.

"N-nothing," she stammered, shaking her head. "I'm just happy to be with you guys again. I really have missed you."

Pepper's eyes widened and she blushed slightly, ducking her head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I've missed you to, Gwen." She took a deep breath, and turned to stop the redhead. Sarah walked on, not realizing that her two friends weren't behind her anymore. "Listen, Gwen. I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."

"No! It's ok," Gwen assured. "You have every right to be mad. I've been a pretty lousy friend lately."

"It's more than that," Pepper said. "I think there's something wrong with-"

She was interupted by the sound of a gun going off. One of the lights shattered as a bullet hit it, and shoppers started panicing as they tried to figure out where the disturbance was coming from.

"Nobody move!" A loud voice yelled. "Or I shoot the girl!"

Gwen was beginning to wonder if she was a magnet for trouble as she watched the man walk out, holding a gun to Sarah's head.

"It about figures," she muttered. She started to summon energy to her hands, then remembered that she was in a public place. She could definately take the gunman out, but a lot of people could get hurt in the crossfire. And what if he had acomplices?

Gwen bit her lip and wished that Ben and Kevin where there.

--

Pepper stared at the scene with wide eyes. "Sarah!" She exclaimed, starting forward. She stopped when she realized that there wasn't anything she could do to help the blonde girl without possibly getting them both killed.

Or was there?

Pepper lifted up her gloved hands and glanced over at Gwen, who seemed preoccupied with the comotion. Pepper through a silent apology at the other girl, then snuck away to a secluded area. "God, I hope I don't end up turning visible again during this," she muttered, pulling off her clothes and concentrating on making herself completely invisible. "That would suck so much."

Now completely invisible -and naked, but she'd rather not think about that- Pepper thanked the heaven's that she was small and shoved through the crowd and into the open space where the man was holding her friend.

(Okay,) she thought to herself as she reached out a hand. (Easy now.) She pulled the guys finger away from the trigger and ripped the gun out of his hands.

The gunman let out a yelp as he realized that his weapon was now floating in the air in front of him.

"What the-"

"Oh shit," Pepper muttered. "This could be a problem." She stuck the gun between her teeth and kicked the guys legs out from under him then yanked Sarah back up and threw her into the freaked out masses. After checking down at herself to make sure she was still unable to be seen -except for the gun of course- Pepper turned and ran back through the crowd -shoving the gun into the hands of a startled mall cop- and back over to where she had left her clothes. She yanked the articles back on, and concentrated on trying to make herself completely visible again.

"Of course it doesn't work," she groaned, discarding the gloves and sweater when she realized that they really wouldn't do her any good.

The crowd was beginning to disperse as the police arrested the man and took statements from the witnesses, who each told them some fantastical tell about ghosts and magic. Gwen was hugging Sarah, who was sobbing hysterically, and looking around for Pepper.

"Where did she go?" the redhead wondered. Her eyes caught sight of a familiar ballcap, and Gwen pulled Sarah over to the spot. "Pepper?"

The cap turned, but there was no head to go with it, and Gwen noticed that her friend's entire outfit was now moving around like a hollow shell. "That was you, wasn't it?"

The cap bobbed up and down, and Gwen knew that her friend was nodding. "Yeah. It's been happening all summer," Pepper explained. "At first I thought it was kind of cool, but then I started realizing that every time I turned invisible, it was harder to change back."

Sarah pulled away from Gwen so the redhead could hug the other girl. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You haven't seemed all that interested in my life lately," Pepper stated flatly. Gwen felt a stab of guilt shoot through her. "Been too busy running around with your cousin and that other guy."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sarah asked, looking slightly hurt. Gwen knew that if Pepper were visible, she'd have been giving the blonde a disbelieving look.

"Yeah, right. Would you have believed me?"

Sarah gave her a sheepish smile. "Probably not. I'm not sure if I believe you now. I'm kinda hoping this all a dream, and I'll wake up to find out that I tripped over a rock and cracked my head on something."

Pepper lifted her now clear hands and Gwen suddenly realized why the girl had been wearing gloves earlier. And probably why she was also wearing that sweater before. "I wish I could wake up to."

"We can get you some help," Gwen stated, turning the girl so she was facing her. "I know some people who can help you, Pepper."

"Who? Paranormal Investigators Anonymous?" Sarah asked saracastically. Gwen smiled.

"No, but close. I think I owe you both an explaination too," she stated. "What I've REALLY been doing this summer..."

--

(And this is where the credits would be. )

--

A/N: There are Plumber's kids that can change between there human and alien forms. Then, we find out in Plumber's Helpers that there are kids who can only stay in alien form. So, I bet that there are also kids that can only stay in human form.

Pepper is one of them. She's half-Ectonurite -on her mother's side- for anyone who didn't catch it. So far, she can only turn herself invisible. I thought it would be more realisitc if she couldn't turn her clothes, or other objects, invisible too, which is why she had to take them off so nobody could see her. She hasn't learned how to pull off the desolid effect yet, but I'm sure the Plumber's will teach her.


End file.
